ECCO the Dolphin could live on through spiritual successor, The Big Blue

ECCO the Dolphin was one of my favorite SEGA Genesis games growing up. I doubt I ever played it as intended, as I was just a young lad at the time. Nevertheless, I had a blast exploring the underwater environment and performing flips in mid-air. Now, the same team that developed ECCO the Dolphin is back with an all-new underwater action-adventure game, The Big Blue.

While The Big Blue isn't necessarily a true sequel to ECCO the Dolphin, the same principles of an underwater adventure game are present in its design -- smooth game controls, deep backstory, and emphasis on exploration and artificial life. The Big Blue addresses topics like climate change, mass extinction, predation, evolution, and biogenesis.

"Players will experience the ocean like never before. The look and feel of this game will be strikingly beautiful and at the same time mysterious and terrifying. The ocean, especially a million years in the future, is the perfect setting for a unique game play experience," the game's "experience" description reads. Yes, that's right, The Big Blue will take place in the future, long after the extinction of humans.

"Immediately after the extinction of humans, the oceans become silent, causing a surge of cetacean communication. A kind of cetacean internet is born. This awakening brings life on Earth to its next evolution," explained game producer and designer Ed Annunziata. As a dolphin, you'll be able to use their voice to sing songs that have effects on surrounding life. For instance, you'll be able to control whole schools of animals at once, create new organisms, and popular your own small sea.

The Big Blue is expected to launch on April 22, 2014; backers of the project will get early previews and early information during the development of the game. It's being developed in Unity, allowing it to run on Mac, Windows, and iOS and Android platforms. Once completed and launched, the goal is to convince Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to "embrace the game."